Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Do Something Now!

During the days of Passion 07 over 22,000 of us banded together to make a difference throughout the world in Jesus' name. The Do Something Now Campaign was more than charity, it was our worship as we offered to God what He really loves. The results so far have exceeded our expectations...and the story has just begun!

Touch AtlantaWe wanted to Touch Atlanta by providing towels and socks to 15 area organizations assisting those in need. 13,000 towels and 31,000 pairs of socks were provided.

Help Stop Human TraffickingSpeaking up against the trade of precious people in the sex industry, 3000 signatures were gathered with Stop The Traffik to be presented to the UN with others from around the world.

Bibles To Unreached PeopleWe wanted to send 3000 Bibles into East Asia, committing to pray for each recipient for one year. 4000 Bibles were sent. 4000 people are being prayed for!

Clean Water For AfricaWe sought to sponsor the drilling of 11 wells (at a cost of 3K each) to bring clean water to African villages for life. 52 wells were sponsored + additional funds were collected for at least one more expensive well in Sudan.

Life-saving Surgeries For KidsWe hoped to sponsor 50 surgeries for children in Central/South America at a cost of $1,000 each. A donor agreed to match whatever was given at Passion 07. 124 surgeries were sponsored, bringing the total (with the matching grant) to 248 surgeries.

College For Promising Africans20 young people were sponsored to attend college in Africa through Compassion's Leadership Development Program. Additional Compassion children were sponsored.

A Community/Student Center on a Campus In IraqWe sought to raise money for the Freedom Center in Kurdistan of Iraq.Over 2400 bricks were purchases for $10. (Our goal was 500!)17 groups have committed to raise $5,000. (Our goal was 10! An additional 20K was given at Passion 07). The numbers are still growing.200 people have committed to pray about spending a year in Iraq teaching English at The Freedom Center.1200 committed to pray for the Kurds for one year.

The Bible For The Dela People of IndonesiaThrough us, God funded the translation of the New Testament for the Dela people of Indonesia. In addition, so many gifts/pledges were made we have funded additional translations for the Rikou and Lola people of Indonesia. But there's more... we have funded the completion of three additional translations that were in mid-stream for people groups in Indonesia. We set our sights on one translation and have now completed six. Calls and requests are pouring into Oneverse with people/groups requesting additional translations to sponsor. Over $450,000 was given/pledged for translations of the New Testament!

On top of these amazing ventures, the offering for Passion's World Tour (we are trusting God for close to 4 million) taken on the last morning was $256,000... and it's still growing. Humbling. Thank you for letting us know you are with us.

God is amazing!! And in Him we can change the world together. Let's don't stop here!If you still want to get involved, information on our Do Something Now partner organizations under Latest on the Passion Website.

I am floored by all of these results! Let us never forget what God can do when His people fall in love with him and show that love by the outpouring of their lives. We can (and now have) changed the world! All glory and honor and praise to the King!

One other thing, do we have an explanation for the lack of a cd this year? I admit that I have questioned passion before and my doubts have been silenced, but I am curious as to why this decision was made. Regardless, this time and place much more than these songs will echo on for eternity in the lives of these poeple that we have touched around the world.

One more thing, for Louie, the Passion team, and all of you who have read the AP article about Passion where I was quoted, I want to make myself a bit more clear. I was quoted as saying, "For 20,000 college kids to come together for any purpose is incredible." While I do believe that this is true, I know that I finished that statement with something close to, "especially for something in which the God of the universe is worshipped, which is looked down upon so much in today's society." This may seem a bit technical to some, but I think it is important that I am not misunderstood in possibly saying that this gathering of 20,000 is the same as any other at a concert or anything else like that simply because of the size. While I do think that is impressive, this is infinitely more important to me that Christ is exalted high above all the earth and that we do truly learn to let our lives Shine for him! (thanks to redman for a terrific song!)

This is so encouraging. God is......What words can we even use to describe Him? Biblical ones? Even the Bible's authors seem to be searching for the right words at times when they're beholding the glory of God.

Let's keep it up! Contact all of these and other organizations and make it a monthly or yearly thing to give money and time! Just this week I've made some minor changes in my lifestyle that will save me hundreds of dollars per year that I can now turn around and channel into missions and outreach programs like Do Something Now.

Y'all are amazing, what God did through y'all was amazing, God is amazing. I know He is so taken with y'all and will bless you more than you can imagine. Everything from Minister "Wowie" in the gold community to Mr.Piper not wearing a tie to the prayer and meditation room exceeded all expectations. I believe I fell in love at this Passion, in a way I never dreamed possible, when I try to make it about Him, my God made me the luckiest man to ever live, I want to honor and live in that hope shown to me, now it will be difficult at times but I know now that hope is worth my life. And He is willing and able to do that for anyone who follows Him, not exactly the same but with personal twists. I can't help but feel personally like I didn't do enough, like I dissapointed, but that's okay He is God I am not. The important thing to remember is that when we live in the Spirit there are no mistakes just experiences that, although mute to begin grow for His reknown. If I can ever do anything to help in anyway, please let me know. When y'all make it to Houston I'd love to take y'all fishing.

In the past few days I have come to realize more than ever how huge God is, and how small I am in comparison. Even though I am so small as an individual, God can still use me! I could have never imagined that "poor college students" could accomplish so much, but when bow to God and let him use us He will be glorified!! God is awesome!!! I am so excited that Passion is going over seas, and I can't wait to go along and serve!!

Truly remarkable. What a beautiful picture of thousands of college students following the example of the widow in Luke 21 by giving out of their (relative) poverty for the cause of Christ. How unfathomably glorious our God is!

THANK YOU to Louie and the Passion team for putting together such a phenomenal conference.

we americans are so richly blessed, and i'm glad we leveraged our riches for the kingdom. this is what christianity is all about.

it's pretty funny...when i tell people about passion 07, it takes me 10-15 minutes just to explain all we did through "do something now." i'm going to start a "do something now" with our youth group soon...gonna be sweet!!

praise the Lord of the nations for what He is doing amongst us! He is our drink. Fill us up Lord to pour ourselves out for others to know You!

I desire for my campus to adopt an Muslim Indian people group from Oneverse. As God stirs up His people, watch them respond with grateful hearts. May we give by gratefulness and faith; not by guilt. He is the Lord Most High!

I shared the vision of OneVerse with my coworkers today, little did I know I was only filling them in one a portion of what God was doing through Passion's cooperative effort. I am so humbled to be a part of His work, and yet so excited about what He is doing that I cannot help but tell others. Bless you for your time, energy, and obedience.--Bryan

Just so amazing what Jesus has done and is doing this through the people of the passion 07 movement! I am an amazingly blessed 41 yr old doctor in Dallas married 15 years to a fantastic wife with 2 awesome children; but oh, to be college-aged and to be counted among the 268 generation! I have been following this movement for the past year+ What an inspiration you all are to my demographic. What hope we have for our kids (10 and 11 years) to be counted someday with some just like you who avail yourself to the great I AM!

Operations, Louie! Operations! (Surgery is like furniture; there is not a "furniture" but there is an "operation"). The only reason I'm even picking on you is because our lovely department chairman insists that we use these words properly. He also happens to be the guy who also makes it be "Christmas" every Friday morning to all of us. See, it's still Christmas;-)

Also, the bright and debatably colored orange T-shirt is now immortalized on my driver's licence... so I can remember to SHINE every time I get carded;-)

It's awesome to watch the praises that began last week continuing via this site! Passion team, thank you for not only serving us by all the work this event required but by leading by example in following God's will for you! I know I speak for us all when we say we wish we could've given so much more to show our support for your obediance!

so. this is really all incredible. like, the numbers presented during the last session wowed me. i cant believe they've gone up. that is seriously amazing.

and maybe it's just me.. but i admit i am kind of sad to see the towels number. thinking about one of louie's talks from last year.. that sometime's its easier to go to africa than it is to go across the hall in your dorm. dont get me wrong, i love and praise Jesus for what will be happening around the globe through the Do Something Now campaigns, i just wish we could have done more for atlanta. i pray that even still, God will use the towels here, in our home country, to shine His light in a new way!

WOW!!! All i can say is im glad that i made the trip from Seattle to Passion 07.....GOD IS AWESOME!!! Thank you GOD for burdening me to go to passion 07 no-matter what the cost. Meeting you GOD face to face was breathtaking.

Thank you to all the staff and volunteers who with GOD made this all flow so beautiful....you did a job worthy of honor and recognition.

Flying back was so hard to do...you are on such a spiritual high for 4 days that you just never want it to end. Anyone got some Godly advice on dealing with the downer...its as if theres a spiritual depression attack. :(

Thank you GOD for everything....and as the last song was sung on thursday, with a loud voice...."GLORY IN THE HIGHEST".

Incredible! I only gave the few dollars I had...so thankful that everyone else did too. When everyone gives a little, it really starts to amount to something. I'm so glad God is using us and moving in this world. Its so beautiful to watch and indescrible to be apart of.

This is such an inspiration to me to remind me that God can do anything!! When prayer and faith is accompanied with a willing heart, God can absolutely blow our minds and expectations. With our lives totally devoted to His will, who knows what we can do, we can CHANGE THE WORLD!!

I Know this is a little off subject, but God has been laying it on my heart for a couple of days and I want to be obedient. There are so many people who log on and read this blog and I want to get as much help as I can get. My friend Kristin came with me to passion, and she is not a christian. On the ride home to Richmond, Va she started asking questions, and finally admitting to me that she is/was seeking. But, as the days get farther and farther away from her passion experience she is letting all the new things that have been revealed to her go, and falling into her old traps. We have had THE talk, and I continue to ask her, but she is getting to the point of denying that anything/anyone is speaking to her. Even though EVERY SINGLE talk at passion effected her in some form or fashion. I have been in a constant state of prayer for her for sometime, and I know our God is big enough to move mountains. And, I was hoping that you guys would be willing to help me pray for her. ONE soul saved from to depths of hell is reason for a celebration. I want her at that party with us!!! I love you all as my brothers and sisters in Christ. So can we, as ONE body, fight for this girls life.If you want to email me some of these prayers my email is gummsb@vcu.edu, if you just want to pray over your computer silently please do. She is coming with me to the "How great is our God Tour" on February 16, so pray that God works through that as well. His house is a house of prayer. So, lets "do something NOW"!!!

Father God I life Kristin up to you and I pray that you open her eyes to your majesty for it is humbling. Give her strength not to run away from the things that scare her, and bring her into your everlasting love, peace, and grace father. Let us come together as one body and lift us this young woman to you father. LEt YOUR will be done. In Christ name WE pray. AMEN!!

I just walked into the student center here on campus...and I heard Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God"...playing throughout the whole student center.

It was really cool, because i had just gotten out of a class where our teacher was stirring up a debate between Science and Religion. It was kind of like a little boost of confidence...like God sayin "Hey, I'm here."

Exodus 36 1 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded."

2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work 5 and said to Moses, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done."

6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

When God has something he wants done, he will provide an abundance for those he wants to give. Even poor college students are not immune from God's blessing.

haha, that is so frickin amazing! omg im so pumped! I LOVE GOD :) He seriously rocks. A bunch of people from my college that went to passion are getting together tonight to pray! :) WOO, keep it comin louie! its very encouraging to see God through all of this!

I'm 47 years old..and yes....I was at Passion. I'm not a College worker at my church, but I wanted to experience what they kept coming back with.....and to the praise of my Savior...I did. About the giving.....the " the Offertory" time during our church service will never be the same for me. How Blessed I am to have experienced Passion. Thank You all for your hard work. Susan Connors

That is so awesome Passion was really awesome. God is really at work in the life us as college students and I can't wait to see what He does. Thanks you guys for giving us an opportunity to reach the people of our world for the name and glory of Jesus Christ.

Being at Passion this year was an incredible experience, and the Do Something Now part of it was huge in that... What was coolest for me personally was in the main session on the last night when Louie was talking about China so much - my heart beats for that country. So my "Do Something" is to go back (I went this past summer and was forever impacted). I don't know when or how but, Lord willing I'm going. So, Louie though you were saying, "This doesn't mean God is going to call you to China" my heart responded, "Please, Lord, send me!" Thank you for all you have done.

I have been a Christian since I was 7 and have always grown up in the church like many of you, but Passion really stired something in my heart, and I am a completely different person. I did not realize how selfish I had become pursuing the American Dream at all costs, worrying about government internships, high status jobs, acquiring "cool" stuff... like Piper talked about in his breakout. God has given me a great burden to leave this country and go tell others about Him. I do not know when, where, or how, but I am graduating in December and have given my life completely to Him. Suddenly the things of this world are not on my priority list. I want to be following after Christ daily so that I may hear His vioce when He is ready to reveal the details of the burden that He has given me. I challenge everyone to search your own hearts and truly see who you are living for. GOD BLESS and SEE YOU AT THE PARTY!!!!

I have been a Christian since I was 7 and have always grown up in the church like many of you, but Passion really stired something in my heart, and I am a completely different person. I did not realize how selfish I had become pursuing the American Dream at all costs, worrying about government internships, high status jobs, acquiring "cool" stuff... like Piper talked about in his breakout. God has given me a great burden to leave this country and go tell others about Him. I do not know when, where, or how, but I am graduating in December and have given my life completely to Him. Suddenly the things of this world are not on my priority list. I want to be following after Christ daily so that I may hear His vioce when He is ready to reveal the details of the burden that He has given me. I challenge everyone to search your own hearts and truly see who you are living for. GOD BLESS and SEE YOU AT THE PARTY!!!!

John 14:21"He who hears my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love him and REVEAL myself to him."

What a beautiful picture of Christ we are seeing as we are obedient to His commands! As we recognized God, and where He was going, at Passion '07, and aligned our hearts, minds, actions, and lives with Him, He showed us amazing things! Amazing things are happening here back home too! My prayer is that He truly reveals Himself in ways we have never imagined in the days to come as we remain obedient!-E

Father, I lift up Kristin to YOU right now. YOU are the one who made her; inside and out; and I ask that YOU would do a mighty work in her life; in whatever way YOU have planned, so that YOUR glory will be shown.

Awesome results! Praise God! My group is sponsoring 100 verses for the Dela people. There's a jar on my kitchen counter for my family and I to collect change... and it's quickly growing.. by God's grace!

Father, in Jesus name I ask you to frustrate the plans of the enemy and bring Kristin, whom you created, to the new life that you offer. Convict her, Lord. Cause her to see You clearly, in Your glory, that the things of this world might grow dim for her. Use her believing friends in whatever ways you can to encourage her and show her Your ways.

For Kristin and all the others who are in need of your light and life! AMEN.

props for streaming Passion online! Here we sit in Cairo, Egypt... 4 Journeygirls and belive it or not we raised our hands too after hearing Louie's talk in session 5 about not knowing where you're going or what you're doing... we have been so encouraged to be a part of Passion from this far away. Thanks for the reminder that there are people that are so passionate about the One True God. Serving together- A,A,J&K

To all of you wonderful Passion Students: We have prayed for you for 20 years! My husband and I have believed God to raise up a generation that would live passionate, abandoned lives for Him. We both volunteered this year and as I stood in the Phillips Arena I felt a little, tiny bit like Simeon when he got to see Jesus. Tears streamed down my face as I looked out over the mass of you. We have been so blessed to see our kids be sold out for our Lord but to see thousands was breathtaking. I raised my arms to thank Jesus and pray for and over you guys asking God to bless, fill, and protect you. My husband was on the intercession team; and he, and others, continue to pray for you. We continue to be blessed as we read your responses on here. Keep shinning and if the wind blows out your candle, make sure you are standing close to another brother or sister who can relight it for you! I know many of you returned to gale force winds but our God is bigger!!!!

Being in Passion 2007 made me so nothing & blessed to be part of something that God is doing. And that made me feel so loved by our great God being brought from hawaii. Doing something for others is something that I need to survive spiritually & experience God even more.

To the anonymous author who wrote on the 12th at 3:56 a few entries above thank you for praying for me and my generation for 20 years faithfully! That means you have been praying for me since I was twelve, and did I ever need it. Still do as I am a lifelong college student, it seems. Thank you to your husband as well for interceding on behalf of the 24,000 people who were there seeking the face of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is so awesome. Your blog entry was very encouraging to the 268 generation! Everybody should scroll up and read it.

GLORY TO GOD!!!! YOU ARE AMAZING AND AWESOME AND MY HUMAN WORDS CAN NOT EXPRESS HOW GLORIOUS YOU ARE!!!!! YA! GO JESUS! WOW! PRAISE YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH!!!! WOOOWHOOO!!!!!! :} what an awesome God we serve!!!! wow!!!!

This is totally irrelevant to this post, but I just wanted to mention that over on facebook a lot of Passion attendees were talking about the music bundles, and the two songs I think everyone would really like to have are Charlie Hall's bread and wine song and the version of Marvelous Light after Piper's talk. Those both really meant a lot to quite a few of us, and it's been amazing how many times in the past week I've been in situations where sharing from those moments has been such an awesome thing!

This should have been on the last blog.However I wasnt' home to write it but I wanted to share my experience of Passion as a volunteer.I am finding it exceptionally difficult to put into words what I did experience at Passion as a volunteer and how I saw God moving.I had the wonderful opportunity to serve on the student prayer journey "Kneel " in a team with about twelve beautiful people who really worked together and affirmed each other.There were two parts to "Kneel " One was "Journey " the other "Pure Grace. " " Journey " was eleven stations of guided meditation, where the students were asked to still their heart, confess any sins, and then lead to pray for their campus, church, city, country, leaders , nations etc. That took about an hour to do. There wasn't much interaction with the students there apart from welcoming them in and smiling as they left. The other part was " Pure Grace " which was amazing. In a large hall with darkened lights stood a cross. There were beautiful candles around it and two spotlights on it which shone the shadow of it on the roof. Cushions and rugs were on the floor. Students tended to enter, sit or immediately go "facedown ' and spend a long time generally working through things in their life with Jesus. I was totally humbled while in this room and the presence of the Holy Spirit was almost tangible here. I watched as young people wrestled with God, some physically shaking their fists and agonising. Saw a great many reduced to tears before Jesus and then lie utterly surrendered at the foot of the cross. I'd wait until I saw that things had quietened down inside them and then go and offer to pray for them.How do you convey to anyone that the highlight of a trip to the other side of the world was being "facedown ' on the floor listening and praying with a young person as they completely surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus ? Words just can't convey such deep emotion.I was left speechless at what I saw the Lord Jesus doing there. I was honoured to serve, and humbled completely by His Pure Grace.

My prayer at Passion was that it would make it back home. I prayed constantly that me and the two other highschool seniors that went would not be the only ones that had a fervent passion for christ. This weekend was D-Now weekend and we focused on Psalm 46:10 "Be Still,...). The first night it just seemed like our entire group of seniors started to grasp it. God was so gracious. He came in that room and thoroughly changed the group as a whole and many individually. I just thought that I wanted tp share my Post Passion Praise for an answered Prayer from the God that says "Be Still, and know that I AM God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in all the earth." Psalm 46:10

Yeah! God reigns! In all the earth! It's so amazing to watch HIM build HIS church... just got back from church this AM (in good ole Ala-Bama), and the topic was on "choosing wisely" with a focus of "all nations" and "all over the earth." (It started with a bumper sticker on I-65S that my mom was impressed with that read: "God bless ALL the nations!"). WOW!!!

By reading posts from the past few days, I see the "ripple effect" as God's power continues to go forth through all who attended!

Hailey from Nashville, thanks for sharing your myspace blog - WOW! You told the story and communicated not only your Passion experience, but your final words summed up the message and call to us all! (Ever thought of a career in photojournalism? God has clearly gifted you as a writer, as well as a photographer!)

Gail, thanks for sharing your experience as a volunteer in the "kneel" area, especially for some other volunteers (like me) who never made it there due to other obligations. Your account blessed my socks off - to see from your eyes how God moved in the lives of the thousands of students who met with God on that hallowed ground.

Simply put - Passion was NOT simply an experience, and not "just another conference." God did life-altering work in thousands of lives, and like a flood changing the course of a river, the Holy Spirit poured through us. I am not the same person who set foot in ATL early on Monday, January 1. I pray He will continue to chart new courses for His river in each of our 24,000 lives, and that He will continue the ripple effect with such power that that, unlike ripples in water which decrease in effect as they go out from the source, that His power will INCREASE with each wave going out!

Hey this may sound weird, but yea...I wasnt able to attend Passion07 because I got seriosuly ill on the day I was supposed to leave, so I wasnt able to give my towels(2) and socks(1). I still have them and I would like to give them to you guys. So how's that possible? Well, I am planning on attending the "How Great is Our God" Tour at San Jose, so is there anyway that I can give them to you or one of the crews? please let me know!

Let me just say, I have to do a paper on a foreign people group and their culture, so I decided to research the Dela people to see who we were helping. When I tried to find information on them on Google, all I could find was articles about what impact Passion is having on the world. Sweet job everyone!